When an enormous furry creature materializes in a Minnesota bog, it causes a stir. What is it? The gathered animals guess: Moose? Dinosaur? Camel? But no one is confident. They can only ascertain that he is forlorn and far from home. Happily, a park ranger appears to clear things up: it's a woolly mammoth, and a time vortex has swept him 10,000 years from the past into the present-day park. The astonished animals agree that they must get the poor mammoth home, and a reliable possum, Gilly, is assigned to unravel the mystery. Suspecting they'll require human help, Gilly summons an intrepid girl to join the mission, but with a blizzard brewing and something sinister on their trail, they'll need to work swiftly or else the mammoth will be stranded in the park forever. The whole book is a hoot, packed with memorable characters and hilarious high jinks. Short chapters and adorable black-and-white illustrations will appeal to newer readers, as will the silly subject matter. A laugh-out-loud adventure with kindness at its core.

Two strange creatures turn up in Gilly's bog during a blizzard, very far from their homes.Gilly, short for Gilligan, narrates this broadly comic time-travel escapade involving residents of the bog in the Twin Cities' Theodore Wirth Park. Gilly is a wryly observant possum who, as assistant to the raccoon Mayor Crawdaddy, gets tasked with things that are too difficult or taxing for the mayor to take on. In other words, just about anything. When a young woolly mammoth from 10,000 years in the past and a park ranger robot from an equally distant future turn up in the midst of the snowstorm, Gilly and the mayor, along with Gilly's human friend, Ruth, and an ambitious red squirrel, the Earl of Sussex, team up to find the temporal vortex before it closes. Twigs, the somewhat petulant woolly mammoth, seems to be hiding a secret that makes him reluctant to return home, and the slightly damaged Smokey 3000 Park Ranger is running out of power. Close behind are three animal-skin–wearing humans who come through the portal in pursuit of Twigs, or at least, of his tusks, and who gather souvenirs by breaking into houses-a lampshade, a toaster, and a painting of a sunset. Gilly's voice is droll-a bit cynical and quite appealing-and the madcap collection of players is amusingly cinematic. Lugo's charming and expressive black-and-white illustrations are scattered throughout.A diverting mix of animal fantasy and time travel. (author's note) (Adventure. 8-13)

When a mysterious creature appears in the Twin Cities’ Theodore Wirth Park, a possum named Gilligan quickly alerts the park’s cantankerous elected official, Mayor Crawdaddy the raccoon, of the assumed threat against the peaceful animal community. The beast, which Gilligan dubs a galumpus, is actually a baby woolly mammoth named Twigs from 10,000 years in the past, who, alongside a park ranger robot called Smokey 3000 from an equidistant future, was transported to the present after getting caught in a time vortex. While fleeing from three animal pelt–clad humans, who arrived along with the young woolly, Twigs and 3000 manage to evade them in the park. Since the Twin Cities animals are honor bound to help all nonhumans, Gilly and Mayor Crawdaddy, aided by 3000 and the squirrel Earl of Sussex, work together to find the time vortex’s origin so Twigs and 3000 can return to their respective homes. Cozy digital illustrations by Lugo (Santiago’s Dinosaurios) suitably complement spirited prose by Helgerson (Crows and Cards). Myriad complications, such as Twigs’s hesitation to return home, 3000’s dwindling power supply, and the persistent hunters add narrative tension and hijinks, making for an upbeat adventure that celebrates community. Ages 8–12. (Jan.)